I Shall Not Want

By Robert Ketcham

The author wrote this book with the feeling that many people he pastored could quote the words "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want," when in reality their lives were "wildernesses of want." In this day of turmoil, confusion, and urgency, the Christian needs to know the Lord as his Shepherd. Centering on the imagery of the shepherd's care for his sheep, Ketcham draws the themes of rest, refreshment, guidance, courage, restoration, comfort, supply, protection, mercy, and power into practical focus. Courage: "The sheep needs courage, not to fight the lion, but to trust the shepherd." Supply: "It is not so much a lot of 'things' which the dear Saviour provides for us, as it is Himself."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Moody Publishers
• Release date: Jun 1, 1972
• ISBN: 9780802488701

Book preview

1953

Preface

THESE MESSAGES on the Twenty-third Psalm have, over a period of several years, been delivered to the congregations of my own churches and to many summer Bible conferences. They were condensed into a series of five messages and delivered before the Moody Founder’s Week conference in February, 1953. Because of constant requests to put these messages into book form, it has been decided to do so. They are sent forth with the earnest prayer that the readers will receive some of the blessing which has been the portion of the visible audiences and, above all, something of the blessing which has come to the heart of the author in his preparation and delivery of them.

Acknowledgment is hereby made of much help from many sources on this psalm. Many writers and teachers have contributed to my knowledge and understanding of the psalm. However, my richest source of blessing has been found in the school of experience through which the Shepherd Himself has led me. Much may be learned from other men’s books—infinitely more may be learned as one, for himself and by himself, walks through the shadows and the sunshine alone with the Shepherd.

The literary style is not altogether satisfactory, due to the fact that the manuscript is a reproduction of the expositions as given orally in public addresses. An endeavor has been made to capture from the tape recordings something of the extemporaneous character of these addresses and at the same time impart to the manuscript a style which makes the book easily readable.

1

An Introduction to the Psalm

THERE IS PERHAPS no more familiar passage of Scripture than the Twenty-third Psalm. It is one of the earliest extended portions committed to memory in childhood. Verse 1 of the psalm presents a very present help in time of trouble when, on prayer meeting night, the pastor suddenly asks his congregation for a verse of Scripture. Immediately someone will spring up and say, The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want, before someone else can get to it.

It is this very familiarity with the psalm which constitutes its peril. Someone has said, Familiarity breeds contempt. I assume that this is intended to indicate that either appreciation of or dislike for certain situations may be gradually modified by constant association. Certainly long familiarity with a passage of Scripture, such as the Twenty-third Psalm, may cause one to lose the keen edge of appreciation and just take it for granted. This has been the fate of this wonderful portion of Scripture at the hands of thousands of really born-again believers.

During nearly sixty years in the ministry I have heard hundreds of people quote the first verse of Psalm 23 even though it was obvious that the verse had almost no application to their daily experience. They could quote the words, The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want, but I knew their life was a wilderness of want. What they really meant was, "The Lord is my Saviour, and I am glad He is." They had failed utterly to realize that there is a vast difference between the saviourhood of Jesus Christ and the shepherdhood of Jesus Christ. One may know the Lord as Saviour and know almost nothing of Him as Shepherd, as revealed in this marvelous psalm.

The New Testament presents the Lord Jesus as exercising a threefold shepherd ministry. In John 10:11 He calls Himself the good shepherd and declares that the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. In Hebrews 13:20 the inspired writer calls the Lord that great shepherd of the sheep and says that He became the great Shepherd through being brought again from the dead. In 1 Peter 5:4 the Lord Jesus is called the chief shepherd and Peter declares that He becomes the chief Shepherd in His second advent when He shall give to His own a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

Here, then, the Lord Jesus is placed before us as the good Shepherd, the great Shepherd, and the chief Shepherd. As the good Shepherd, He dies for the sheep. As the great Shepherd, He lives for the sheep. As the chief Shepherd, He comes for the sheep.

It is the relationship of the good Shepherd to the sheep rather than the relationship of the great Shepherd to the sheep that is referred to by many people when they quote verse 1 of Psalm 23. They are thinking of the ministry of the good Shepherd who died for them on Calvary’s cross, and who, for that matter, is also living in heaven and whom they are sure they will meet someday. The glorious truth that they should be meeting Him every day in green pastures and beside still waters has never dawned upon them, or at least has never become a blessed, daily experience in their Christian life. True it is that one cannot know Christ as Shepherd without knowing Him as Saviour, but the tragedy is that born-again believers who know Him as Saviour may never know Him in their daily experience as a blessed present Shepherd.

This threefold shepherd ministry of Christ is beautifully set forth in the triplet psalms, namely, Psalms 22, 23 and 24. Psalm 22 presents Him as the good Shepherd in death. Psalm 23 presents Him as the great Shepherd in life. Psalm 24 presents Him as the chief Shepherd in His sure return.

The opening sentence of Psalm 22 is the very dictation of Calvary’s cry of rejection—My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? These words are not primarily a quotation from Matthew 27:46, but Matthew 27:46 is the Lord Jesus Himself quoting from Psalm 22:1—quoting in awful, literal and terrible fulfillment all of the black and overwhelming portent of these words!

Psalm 22 is a literal word picture of the experiences of death by crucifixion; but more than that, the death of the Son of God by crucifixion. Even the details of garments parted, lots cast upon vesture, and pierced hands and feet, are here laid bare before us. Surely this is the good Shepherd giving His life for His sheep.

I cannot accept the view that Psalm 22 has reference to a particular, personal experience of David. There are some things in this psalm which David never experienced. For instance, look at verses 16 and 18, They pierced my hands and my feet…. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. This was never done to David. I recognize that in many of the prophetic psalms there is a near and a remote fulfillment. For instance, when David said in Psalm 41:9, Mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me, he certainly was referring to his own experience. But in John 13:18 we discover that the Lord Jesus Christ reaches back over the centuries and lifts that little, almost forgotten, expression of David out of its ancient setting, and says that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me, and applied it to His experience with Judas. In this case the great camera focus in this prophecy was not directed particularly on David. He was simply caught on the sidelines. The eye of the camera was really on the Lord Jesus and Judas. This gives us the well-known principle of near and remote fulfillments in connection with the same prophecy, but this is not the case in Psalm 22. Here there is but one individual who walks in the terrible picture. It is none other than the good Shepherd moving into the place of death for His sheep.

Psalm 23 sets the Lord forth in His present ministry. Every verb in the psalm is in the present tense. It is something that the Lord Jesus is doing for us now. It is the good Shepherd whom we just saw dying in Psalm 22 who is now living as the great Shepherd in Psalm 23.

Yes, Psalm 23 presents the Lord Jesus as doing something for me right now. In Psalm 22 He did something for me once and forever that He will never have to do again—He died for my sins. But there is something about this old sinful heart of mine that makes it necessary to have Somebody up in heaven to keep it right. Every day and every hour and every moment I have to have Someone living for me and in me who can crucify every unholy thought, every unholy act, and keep me in a place of usableness before a holy God. And that is exactly what we see Him doing in Psalm 23.

Let us never cease to stand with Paul in the presence of that lone Sufferer on Calvary’s cross and say, "He loved me, and gave Himself for me." Blessed occupation! But not blessed enough if that is as far as our vision and conception of Calvary extends. Divine urgency is upon us not